Religion and Politics from a Young Christian in Northern Virginia

Convention for 2013

June 10th, 2012

Much is being made of the upcoming vote this weekend by State Central to move to a convention to nominate the Republican statewide candidates for 2013. Bill Bolling is campaigning aggressively for a primary even though most primary polls have him losing overwhelmingly to Ken Cuccinelli in a primary. Cuccinelli on the other hand is not campaigning publicly for a convention, though he campaigned aggressively for many of the state central candidates who are now pushing for a convention.

There are two main reasons I have to support a convention. The first is cost. As fiscal conservatives, we should not force localities to foot huge bills for our party’s nominating process. This fact is compounded when you realize that we will probably only have a low double digit voter turnout if we have a primary. It is also forces the campaigns to spend much less money on the nominating process and allows them to save more for the general election. Secondly the convention enables us to both insure only Republicans vote, and it helps the campaigns identify and recruit activists.

Fiscal conservatives would support a primary. Conventions cost the party money and usually never make any money off it. Just ask RPV if they made money in the 2009 convention

Second, you can id way more volunteers in a primary. People showing up to a convention are already “plugged in.” I’ve heard countless stories of people being recruited while voting at a primary.

Also – Isn’t the GOP supposed to be pro-military? How are our troops serving overseas supposed to vote in a convention? What about shift workers who work on the weekends? Or students, or low income families who can’t afford the trip.

And lastly, why shouldn’t independents or the so called “Reagan Democrats” be allowed to vote in our primaries? In order to win elections, you need a coalition of Republicans, Democrats and independents to win. Winning all of the GOP vote can still cause you to lose an election by 30 points.

http://williedeutsch.wordpress.com williedeutsch

Should every organization be able to require the government to pay millions for their organizational procedures? Is requiring the government to pay for something the private sector has a hard time making financially solvent the new definition of fiscal responsibility?

(Weird idea, but what if we worked creatively to make conventions pay for themselves? Wouldn’t that be the fiscally responsible option?)